The 11-story Tower at Convention Center Court in Downtown Fresno was sold last year for an estimated $96 million. Photos by Edward Smith

One of the newest additions to Downtown Fresno’s skyline has caught the eye of a real estate investment trust, resulting in a transaction among the largest of 2021.

Fresno developer Tom Richards with the Penstar Group sold the Tower at Convention Center Court — commonly known as the United Security Bank Building for its exterior signage — to Cleveland, Ohio-based Boyd Watterson Asset Management.

Representatives with the Penstar Group declined to comment in detail on the private, off-market sale and calls made to Boyd Watterson were not returned. Real estate website CoStar estimated the September 2021 sale around $96 million.

Built in 2003, the building at 855 M St. represents “one of the best Class-A office buildings in Downtown Fresno,” said a representative with Penstar Group.

The sale of the 11-story, 274,000 square foot building included two parcels of land totaling 2.18 acres. It has a Subway, Mediterranean Gus Kabobs as well as a FedEx Office Center on the bottom floor.

High-profile tenants including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs, US Department of Agriculture as well as Rep. Jim Costa’s Fresno office call the building home.

Boyd Watterson Asset Management is predominantly employee-owned with $17.3 billion in assets — fixed income, real estate and equity investment — under management. Its real estate division has nearly $10 billion in assets, according to its website.

Emporis, an online database for information about buildings worldwide, ranks the Tower at Convention Center Court as the No. 6 tallest building in Fresno at 160 feet. It lists the Pacific Southwest Building as the tallest at 264 feet.

Tower at Convention Center Court was also the first privately built high-rise building in Fresno since Masten Towers in 1973, according to Emporis.